The Golf Coast Standard

The Darien Times Loves www.thegoldcoaststandard.com….

In case you missed it, The Darien Times published a very complimentery article about www.thegoldcoaststandard.com

•      “(Karen) strives to represent the community through a variety of voices.”
•       (She)” jumped into the void and encourages dialogue with her readers
•       The site is far from a series of self serving proclamations and listings….

Toot Toot…..thats me blowing my own horn!

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Darien Home Sellers- Free Neighborhood Video of Your Listing

Is your agent doing all they can to market your home on the Internet? Are they still using pretty postcard websites and waiting for the phone to ring ?

Isn’t your location or neighborhood in Darien,CT  a big part of what is going to sell your home? Of course. But Google Maps or interior videos won’t convey a feel for how special Darien,Ct homes and its’ neighborhoods are.

If you wish to market your Darien home, and have a technological edge on the competition,let me produce a video of your home, street or neighborhood. I can post it on You Tube,various websites or just send it to prospective buyers. It’s your call.

This market DEMANDS  inspired and unconventional methods for making your property stand out.

I can help you with that.

Contact me at kmbrewer2@aol.com or 203-554-0951.

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Tags: Darien video, Neighborhoods

Darien Homes for Sale, Weekly Market Report, November 12,2009

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Darien Homes for Sale-Free,Custom Neighborhood Videos

Suppose you’re coming from out of town….thinking….just thinking of moving to CT or looking for a Darien home for sale. You’ve searched www.thegoldcoaststandard.com and have found a couple of houses you might like.

Do you want to pack up the baby, and drive to CT just to find that your Darien dream home is a chip shot from the highway or next door to the guy that hasn’t raked his leaves in ten years?  I wouldn’t.

As great as the Internet is, when it comes to real estate it still lacks one thing…. context.You can never tell if that  Darien home for sale is priced well because the sellers really need to move or because it’s in a compromised location. Perhaps you want a flat yard and this one is on a hill. Maybe you want to be close but not too close to neighbors. And you just can’t tell from the pictures.

That’s where video comes in. Email me here or at kmbrewer2@aol.comwith the property you’re interested in and I’ll shoot a video of the street or neighborhood for you. I’ll place the home in context to schools, shopping, train stations, whatever you like.

Just remember pictures don’t lie. But they don’t tell the whole truth either. I can help you with that.

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Hungry For a New Lunch Spot?.. Try “espresso Neat”..Downtown Darien,CT

Since opening in September, Espresso Neat has been serving the best coffee this side of Guatemala. But now great becomes even greater. Espresso Neat serves ready made sandwiches and salads too.

Salads include Roasted Beet with goat cheese,candied walnuts,and romaine with a white balsamic vinaigrette, a fresh Farmer’s Market Cobb, or for those who love the classics, a yummy Chicken Caesar.

Sandwiches are Curried Chicken Salad on whole wheat sourdough bread,Chickpea and Roasted peppers on olive sourdough or Roasted Turkey with lettuce, tomato and goat cheese on cranberry, pecan sourdough.

And speaking of turkey, Espresso Neat is bringing Sono Bakery to Darien,Ct. for the Thanksgiving holiday by offering pies available by pre order.They are $19.50 for a ten inch pie.

I’ve ordered Apple Crumb and Cranberry Pear but, you can also get Pecan and of course, Pumpkin.Pies can be picked up the day before Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving morning .

How Neat is that?

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Darien Weekly Market Report,November 5,2009 Darien Real Estate

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The Gold Coast Standard, 15 Minutes of Fame,Darien Real Estate and Homes

For those of you who do not live in the area or just missed the article published in the Darien Times on October 29,2009 about the Gold Coast Standard and its author,Karen Brewer of Sothebys International Realty in Darien, CT. Read the rest of this entry »

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Third Quarter 2009, Market Report ,Fairfield County CT.

Each quarter,Sotheby’s International Realty publishes a state of the real estate market if you will, for Fairfield County,CT and north through the Shoreline area. It is a comprehensive report and one you should read if you are considering buying or selling property in the area.

Data shows more strength in the shoreline areas, and most activity taking place in the entry level categories. Inventory has stabilized and the data suggests a bottoming out of the market in Fairfield County.

 

http://www.wpsir.com/u/marketReports/wpsir/rp_2.pdf

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Eeeny Meeny Miney Mo….Which Darien Realtor Can Help Me Score?Darien Homes

I had a discussion with a fellow  Darien Realtor yesterday which has prompted this post. She was telling me how she was showing homes to a client who let it be known that he was, in fact, using several Realtors at once.

Now there are those who do this because they’ve never bought a home or don’t understand the protocol.  Then there are those that feel that they will see different listings with different brokers or somehow get a “leg up” in the process.

Let me explain why this will inevitably backfire.First,almost all listings these days are “multiple listed”.That is to say,they are available  to agents via computer databases that we all share. Gone are the days where agents held onto “pocket listings” or didn’t make all information available to the general public.(If you have a home listed with an agent who is still doing this….run…do not walk…in the other direction.) The point is that the Internet has made this practice obsolete and you therefore, will gain nothing on this front.

Second,a really good agent will want to get to know you, what you like or don’t like in a home,neighborhood or town.They will want to know about your commute, your children and other information that will help them to find your next home. If you are hopscotching between agents, they are ALL JUST SHOWING HOUSES and you will inevitably “drag out” your search process and wind up being confused.

Third, and listen up here….if it becomes known that you are utilizing the services of multiple agents,even for a day, an agent may be disinclined to invest the time it takes to educate you and find you the best deal.

This is where trust comes in. All good business arrangements, big or small, with a  written contract or without, are  based on trust . The first one to breach that trust loses!

When looking for a home,find an agent you like and stick with them. It will pay off  in the long run.Trust me.

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Riddle:When is Buying a Computer Like Buying a Home?….Darien Real Estate

Last week I bought a new laptop.My old one was slow, riddled with viruses, and the keyboard ws missing the letters “N and”D”. It was time.

Against the advice of my “Machildren” I decided  on a PC . It has a large,shiny,black screen, lots of memory and a keyboard that looks like it came straight off the Space Shuttle. 

Anyway,once out of the box,I had to figure out how to transfer data from the old machine to the new one. “Simple enough,”I thought. After all ,I had a tool they called,”The Easy Transfer Wizard.” With the wizard, your computers do a cyberdance and files and settings are transferred-magically .

Twelve hours, one sleeve of Chips Ahoy cookies, and a pint of Rocky Road ice cream later,I found myself  in the fetal position on the kitchen floor.I didn’t need the Transfer Wizard anymore.I needed Harry Potter.

Instead,I called Microsoft, Hewlett Packard ,Optimum Online and my fourteen year- old second cousin.  No one could figure the problem out. I gave in to despair when they all started to suggest I call the others.

The very next day,I paid a consultant to come over and pull my head up off the kitchen counter.It turns out I had a bad “router”.(You probably thought that was a power tool. I did.)

Through all of this,it occured to me that conveying property and setting up computers have something in common.Here’s how.

Statistics show that people buy  new computers every three to five years . Likewise, they buy or sell property every 5-7 years. In both cases the impulse is to think,”Hey,I’ve done this before. No problem”. 

It would be true except that computers and real estate are both changing at the speed of light.  New technology, pricing, marketing,and regulations create a dynamic  that most of us just cannot keep up with. Still,many people think they know  all about real estate- just like I believed in The Easy Transfer Wizard.

Take my advice.If you’re looking to set up a computer,call someone knowledgeable . If you’re looking to buy or sell a property,call the best Realtor you know.

 I promise it will keep you off the kitchen floor.

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Tags: realtor